Elf definitely updated their 'Essential' brush line to synthetic bristles, which I think is a huge improvement because I've owned them a few years ago and they were scratchy AF. They definitely apply better and feel much higher in quality, even though they doubled their price of most of them ($2), but for the price there is nothing to really complain about. I don't find this brush to be really dense, so it doesn't pick up much in the way of powder. However, I really do like this for cream blush, which is really easy to over do. It dispenses the perfect amount of product for me. It is also good for bronzing powder or contour powder as that is also easy to over apply. I've owned this for a few weeks and it hasn't shed at all.

This brush was DEFINITELY updated, I don't think anyone could call the bristles on the brush sitting in my makeup bag scratchy. They aren't super densely packed but pick up a lot of product, so you only need a light hand. I use this for contour (powder), the angle of the brush works well and it's fluffy enough to blend it out after laying down the initial line. I've also used it for highlight in the past, and for blush. Definitely would keep this around seeing as it's so multipurpose.

This brush has been updated since last year for sure. I had an older one of these and the Total Face Brush and I hated them because they were scratchy and the bristles fell out. I picked up one of these because I needed a cheap contouring brush and I could tell they'd updated this. The bristles used to be a rough, reddish colored mess. Now they're soft and smooth with no falling bristles.

Please disregard the older reviews, as far as I can tell this product has been very much improved.

I hate this brush. Its rough on the skin & all the bristles fall out all over my face. I tried giving it a chance by just using it to pat down MAC fix+ spray but it even failed at life doing that! It left little hairs all over my face. So annoying. Worst brush ever.

Totally useless brush (and I have multiple ELF brushes, so I'm not against ELF). The bristles keep falling off, and they bend when placed on your skin with slightest touch so completely useless with bronzing since you can't target your application. The bristles are also really stiff, and I swear that the bristle's red color also wipes on your face too. I really should have read the reviews before purchasing at Target, but the cheap price made me excited to buy without reading the reviews. Definitely now know to look up makeup alley reviews before buying any other ELF brushes.

For AUD$3 even if this is terrible you can't really complain about it. I wouldn't use this for bronzing or blush as I like a large round fluffy brush for blush and bronzer. But for contouring, this is excellent. It fits in the crevices under my cheekbones perfectly and creates a nice line and blends it easily. It does shed a little while washing but if I'm gentle it doesn't lose too many hairs. For the price, I'd repurchase.

Not happy with this brush! ELF has a ton of really great brushes but this NOT one of them! The bristles are stiff and not dense enough to deposit color well. And the brush head is really thin so it creates an unnatural line, which is exactly what you want to avoid with contour. I guess you could use another brush to buff out, but there are better brushes like the ELF complexion brush! Love that one for natural looking contour! Why use another brush to buff if you don't need to?